In the fall of 1897, Albert L. Cain commenced building a factory for the manufacture of white birch into spools, pill boxes, etc. The mill, which was powered by steam, was located at the corner of Maple and Pine streets, near the train depot in Bristol. (From Middlebury Register, Nov. 12, 1897)

According to a Bristol Novelty Works Ledger, the Novelty Works was doing business in 1897, but their application for a charter for the Bristol Novelty Works was not granted until May of 1897. The company was organized with a capital stock of $20,000. The subscribers to the stock were: Albert L. Cain, Ashbel A. Dean, Anson M. Norton, Noble F. Dunshee and Lucien O. Chapin. The purpose of the company was to manufacture goods of wood and metal.

Among the items that were manufactured at the Novelty Works were: turned wooden boxes, wooden vials for drugs, dowels, tubes, barrels, pipe stems, pipe bowls.

According to The Novelty Works Ledger, between 1898 and 1903 the majority of the work done was for the E.B. Estes & Son Company.

The company continued to prosper into 1903 when they were beginning to manufacture the “Apache Beadwork Loom. In August of 1903 they received an order for 10,000 of these new looms. An addition to the building was started to accommodate the manufacture of these looms.

On Oct. 8, 1903, at a few minutes past 8 a.m. a fire in the boiler room destroyed the plant.

After the fire Albert Cain was too discouraged to continue, but a number of townspeople decided to continue operations and rebuild. In November of 1903 the new organization was incorporated as the Bristol Novelty Company and that the capital stock be $30,000, divided into shares of $25 each. W.E. Hanks was elected president, C.H. May, superintendent and R.W. Peake secretary and treasurer. Work was begun on rebuilding and on Dec. 19, 1903, the main building and boiler room were completed. Cain died on Dec. 10, 1903, of typhoid fever

The business continued to operate until at least 1908 when it was shut down.

In 1912, the factory of the New Haven Mills Manufacturing Company at New Haven Mills, owned by M.I. Thomas burned. Thomas was persuaded to buy the vacant Novelty Co. factory. The purchase price was $4000. Mr. Thomas paid $2500 for the building with townspeople supplying the remaining $1500. This was the beginning of the Vermont Box Company,which was operated by Ford Thomas, son of M.I. Thomas, until his retirement in 1952.

Drake & Smith: 1885-1952

Drake & Smith Company was located off the end of East St. and was also known as Drake, Smith & Co.

The following was taken from 2012 edition of “History of Bristol, Vermont.”

A gristmill, built of stone in 1818, in the east part of the village, was one of four buildings which formed the foundation of the original Drake, Smith & Company. The upper part of the stone mill was used as a pillbox factory. Between one hundred and two hundred cords of white birch were used annually in manufacturing these boxes and several people were employed there. A sawmill built sometime before 1836, formed the eastern boundary of the gristmill. Shortly after that, a tanbark mill was built close by.

About 1845, the fourth building, a carding mill, was added to this group by Israel Eddy who later passed it on to his son-in-law, Sam Hasseltine, who abandoned the mill about 1880, machinery was moved to Hinesburg. In the meantime, Solomon Drake, owner of both the gristmill and the tanbark mill, sold the former but retained control of the tannery which he left to his son-in-law, Horace Farr. As late as 1865, leather was tanned in the mill. In 1880, the carding mill building was sold to A. J. Eastman, who manufactured butter tubs there for five years. He then sold to T. S. Drake and E.W. Smith, who formed the original partnership of Drake & Smith for the manufacture of beekeepers supplies. In the early 1880s Drake & Smith acquired the rights to the gristmill, sawmill, and tanbark mill, thus consolidating the four factories into one plant.

According to the March 4, 1887, Burlington Free Press, Drake & Smith, in the past year, shipped over 500,000 mailing boxes to a New York firm. They also made some 450,000 sections of bee keeper’s supplies.

In March of 1893, Drake & Smith Co. received an order for 100,000 boomerangs to supply the Emerson Boomerang Gun Co. of Whitehall, N.Y.

About 1894, Charles McGee purchased several shares in the business. In 1935, in company with his son-in-law, Richard Smith, and grandson, Clement Smith, he bought the remaining shares from the heirs of E. W. Smith. . After the death of Richard Smith and Charles McGee, the plant was operated by Mrs. Richard Smith. A thriving business was done in the manufacture of wooden boxes, silos, water tubs, door frames and sashes to order.

On May 5, 1911 the Drake, Smith Factory was partially destroyed by fire causing $30,000 in damages and putting 30 people out of work. Work was started immediately after the fire and the damaged buildings were rebuilt without delay.

Work continued at the East St. site until 1946 when it was closed due to the recession following World War. In 1947 it was reopened by John Cragen Sr. until being sold to L. Stearns Gay Jr. in 1951. In 1952 Gay bought the Vermont box Co. on Pine St. and manufacturing was discontinued at the East St. location. The site was dismantled in 1953.

In 1956 the name of the Vermont Box Co. on Pine St. was changed to Drake, Smith & Co. Inc., and was a well-known furniture maker.

After a merger and several restructurings, Drake, Smith declared bankruptcy in 1982 and closed for the fourth and final time in 1984.

More information and details may be found on the Bristol Novelty Co. and Drake & Smith Co. at the Bristol Historical Society on 19 West St. in Bristol. Contact Gerald Heffernan at gerry60@gmavt.net or Reg Dearborn dear4@gmavt.net.